Your Friend

Gumption

BY Laura SciarpellettiPublished Jan 29, 2016

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The first full-length from Your Friend — the musical project of Kansas-born singer, guitarist, looper and songwriter Taryn Miller — is Gumption, a record that builds on her last EP Jekyll/Hyde but surpasses it in vibrancy and beauty.
 
Perfect for a sunny day spent lying in the grass, Gumption provides a textured dream-like effect courtesy of its echoing tones throughout. It begins with "Heathering" and "Come Back From It," on which Miller weaves an intricate synth-loop web brought into sharp, detailed relief by producer Nicolas Vernhas.
 
The spacey sounds, guitar plucking and introspective lyrics about aging on "Gumption" encapsulate the sense of languorous romance that permeates the album, while the drones and synths that mimic nature sounds on "To Live With" evince Miller's avant-garde tendencies. The EP ends with "Who Will I Be in the Morning," a reflective ballad that maintains the album's theme of remarking on personal struggles as Miller confronts the growth and pitfalls inherent to life on the road — the result is a perfectly human moment, set to the beat of something almost otherworldly.
(Domino)

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